Director Ruth Beckermann has also left the association (archive picture from 2018)
Photo:
imago / Seeliger
In a debate about equality, the Austrian Film Directorate Association has lost around a third of its members.
42 directors have split off from the lobby group.
The Austrian news agency APA reported on Monday, citing a joint manifesto of the group »# die_regisseur *innen«.
The big names of Austrian film have left, including Ruth Beckermann, Sabine Derflinger, Marie Kreutzer, Elisabeth Scharang, Edgar Honetschläger and Michael Palm.
"A long history of exclusion, lack of transparency and disrespectful internal treatment has weakened the political clout of the Filmdirection Association as an important representation of the interests of Austrian cinema directors," says the manifesto.
A lack of democratic structures and a lack of willingness to enter into dialogue are also deplored.
Not even a minimal consensus
In the debate about the gender quota in the allocation of funds, there was not even an interest in a minimal consensus - "if not a progressive, at least a collective solidary position."
In this respect, they felt compelled to leave: »We need an interest group that is open to these issues and proactively supports diversity.
We no longer see any possibility of implementing all of this in the existing structure of the Film Directing Association. "
A discussion process will now be set in motion to sound out what a representation of interests based on solidarity, equality and transparency should make in 2021.
In the Austrian Film Director Association, however, one does not want to speak of a split. The lines of conflict are older here, said board member Kurdwin Ayub of the APA. In many cases, she suspected personal conflicts behind the proceedings, especially since many at the general assembly would not have gotten involved: "In recent years there has been little interest in being democratically involved." Ayub appeals to those who have left the association not to give up.
"We're playing into the hands of a divisive zeitgeist here, instead of sitting down at a table in a small country like Austria," said APA director Arman T. Riahi.
A meeting is planned for the end of November, in which the offer that has already been made to reorganize the association will be on the agenda, says Riahi: "We are a pluralistic interest group."
sak
